Mariner Janes

the cutthroat’s wishlist

crept in to covered spaces, crawled in anywhere, became punctured with hidden, felt up and abandoned

memory loss, if reconstructed

in a three dimensional way

ship steers, bucks left

uncoiled and repulsed

if you were to look back

at the crux of the ocean

the dividing line, the long game

you’d see an ocean hovering on the cut

tilting out a clock

if there were ballads like those

or revenge songs sung

into cold wild night, unabashed

wind and wood wound into bent into

curves composite went and woof

wavebreaking and a thick pulse

the jestwind, the muscle and howl

oceancrusted with foam and drowned men

what a peace i found there

amongst the kelp and the mud.

Mariner Janes was born in Victoria, BC, and raised in East Vancouver.  His books include The Monument Cycles (Talonbooks 2013), and blueprint, a chapbook.  He has also been published in West Coast Line.  While studying at SFU, he co-edited iamb magazine, a venue for new and emerging writers.

Mariner works in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and aims to bring the multitude of voices he finds there into his work, through found poetry, transcription, and storytelling.  He is currently at work on a second collection of poetry and short stories.

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